Pandeli Castle

The castle on Leros stands on a hill between Pandeli and Agia Marina, high enough to see most of the island and the channels around it. Byzantine in origin, it was rebuilt by the Knights of St John after they took Leros in the fourteenth century, and it holds a double circuit of walls with towers, cisterns and vaulted chambers. Inside the enceinte stands the church of Panagia tou Kastrou, built in the seventeenth century over an earlier chapel, with an ecclesiastical museum holding icons, vestments and manuscripts from across the island. The approach is either by road to the upper gate or by a stone stairway of around four hundred steps from Pandeli. The view takes in Agia Marina, Pandeli, Vromolithos and the deep inlet of Lakki.

What you actually see

• The double walls - Byzantine and Hospitaller circuits with towers.
• Panagia tou Kastrou - a seventeenth-century church inside the walls.
• The museum - icons, manuscripts and vestments from Leros churches.
• The four-bay view - Agia Marina, Pandeli, Vromolithos and Lakki below.

When to go

Spring and autumn; the hill is exposed and the stair climb hard in summer heat. Late afternoon light is best over the bays, and the castle usually opens in two blocks with a midday closure.

Honest expectations

The stairway is long and steep, so most visitors drive up. Opening hours are limited and change seasonally. The interior is partly ruinous with uneven ground and few railings.

Nearby

Pandeli's fishing harbour is below; Agia Marina, Platanos and Lakki bay lie around the hill.